Redemption of equity investments from mutual fund schemes increased 41 per cent last month to ₹21,000 crore as investors booked profit with markets hitting a new high amid concern over future economic growth heightened as industrial production and consumer demand slowed substantially.

On the other hand, gross inflows jumped 12 per cent to ₹27,300 crore largely due to steady flow of about ₹8,300 crore through systematic învestment plan.

SBI Mutual Fund registered the highest equity assest under management of ₹1,86,800 crore in November toppling HDFC Mutual Fund (₹1,55,300 crore) and ICICI Prudential MF (₹1,40,200 crore) to the top slot, according to Motilal Oswal Institutional Equities report.

Nippon Mutual Fund regained its fourth place though its equity asset was down by 0.6 per cent to ₹1,04,900 crore while that of Aditya Birla Mutual Fund asset was at ₹85,600 crore.

Cash holding in equity-related schemes increased to meet the redemption pressure. The cash holding of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund equity schemes was at 10 per cent while that of SBI MF and Kotak MF was at 6.4 per cent and 7.2 per cent respectively.

Interestingly, the weightage of NBFCs, telecom, banks, cement, healthcare and metals increased month-on-month, while that of capital goods, consumer sector, technology, oil and gas, retail, automobiles and utilities moderated.

In fact, in line with falling index for industrial production number, capital goods weight hit an all-time low of 6.9 per cent, while that of PSU banks increased for the third successive month to touch a four-month high of 4.3 per cent.

Among top five of the top 10 stocks which saw an increase in value were in financials such as SBI ₹2,990 crore, HDFC ₹2,880 crore, Bajaj Finance ₹2,450 crore, HDFC Bank ₹1,930 crore and ICICI Bank ₹1,590 crore.

Bharti Airtel’s value was up by ₹3,550 crore, with the stock gaining 18 per cent M-o-M while Maruti Suzuki was one of the preferred stocks among MFs in the month with net buying by 17 funds. Value increased by ₹800 crore, despite the stock declining by 4 per cent

Stocks whose value declined include L&T (minus ₹3,860 crore), TCS (minus ₹1,290 crore), IOC (minus ₹1,070 crore), ITC (minus ₹1,020 crore) and HPCL (minus ₹970 crore).

DP Singh, ED and CMO, SBI Mutual Fund said though there have been a lot of headwinds both domestically and globally, the inflow in mutual fund industry should stay robust due to investors’support and inherent benefits.

The expected pick-up in economic activity will support capital market growth, which, in turn, will lead to increase in investor confidence with mutual fund industry being the direct beneficiary, he said.

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